February 2018 Plug-In Electric Vehicle Sales Report Card

This February provides faith that 2018 plug-in sales will be on the fast track for continued growth.

February marks the 29th month of consecutive year-over-year monthly sales gains* for plug-in vehicles. The month delivered the utmost promise of a very impressive year to come.

UPDATE: Final numbers are in! We’ve updated the chart accordingly.

While January got off to a slow (and a bit scary) start, sales were still higher than that of 2017. However, February brought fantastic results, especially since Tesla Model 3 production is ramping up and 2018 Nissan LEAF stock is growing. But these two models are just a piece of the total equation.

The Model 3 stole the show again despite still not meeting anticipated numbers. Tesla sold an estimated 2,485 Model 3s, making it the all-time February EV sales champion after being the all-time January champ a month ago. Although Nissan is still just getting the all-new LEAF stocked, we were pleasantly surprised to see 895 delivered. Next month will be even better.

We estimated over~14,000 plug-ins would be sold last month, and we were right. Well … we were also wrong, but in the best way.

For the month, an estimated grand total of 16,745 plug-ins were sold. This is up 35% from last year’s 12,375 and up 39% from January’s 12,052.

While 2017 plug-in sales fell just shy of the 200,000 mark, it was still an extremely impressive year as a whole. This huge bump for February suggests significant forward momentum for the year ahead. Hitting that mark for 2018 will happen well before the end of the year. However, there are many variables involved in determining where we might be by the end of this year. Will we see 300,000?

Other vehicles of note include the Toyota Prius Prime, in second place with 2,050 sold, and the Chevrolet Bolt cranking up sales from a flat January to 1,424 deliveries last month.

BMW sold a whopping 1,936 plug-ins for February, to once again claim a spot in our top five EV manufacturers. Aside from Tesla (est. 4,485) and GM (2,431), the other spots were filled by Toyota (2,050) and Ford (1,006). These five automakers make up ~72% of all EVs sold for the month of February.

Completing our estimates this month – so that we could provide you with a final number while we wait for the splits to come in – puts Mercedes-Benz at 359 deliveries, Hyundai/Kia with 551, and Volvo at 315. We will continue to update the chart in the coming days with exact numbers.

Questions entering February (with answers in parentheses as they come in)

Now that the all-new 2018 Nissan LEAF has arrived, has inventory grown enough to spawn decent sales numbers? (Yes. Surprisingly, LEAF sales rose to 895 sold this February. This is way up from last month’s figures, and only down marginally from last year’s 1,037.)

After the Chevrolet Bolt’s somewhat weak showing in January, will it redeem itself this month? (Yes! Bolt sales are up 49.6% year-over-year and up from last months figures!)

The Chevrolet Volt continues to struggle to maintain sales now that the Bolt EV and a handful of PHEV rivals have arrived. It has seen deliveries drop year-over-year for ten months in a row. Will strong sales in February finally end this streak? (Nope. Volt sales are down 46% year-over-year. However, this month’s 983 deliveries is up significantly from January’s 713 moved.)

Will the Tesla Model 3 prove more sales growth and stay at the top of our scorecard for the second month in a row, despite potential production concerns? (Yes. Model 3 sales will top our chart once again, but they’re nowhere near what many expected and what Tesla has been aiming for with the ramp up.)

How much will Tesla Model S and Model X sales be impacted by the continued rise in Model 3 deliveries? Musk says orders are very strong. Will this make a difference? (Yes and no. Model S sales estimates are down from last year, which is expected with the new allocation of resources, but Model X sales estimates seem to be up a bit, which is also exactly as we assumed since last year sales were just beginning to grow.)

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV sales tripled from its first U.S. sales month to January. Will we see such continued growth into February? (No. Sales were only up a handful, from 300 to 323.)

Willthe Toyota Prius Prime continue to impress? (Of course! Toyota sold a whopping 2,050 Prime plug-ins for the month, up 50.5% from last year’s numbers.)

Will Honda manage to boost inventory for the Clarity PHEV and secure a more significant sales boost than was reported in January, meaning it may find a new home in our recaps for next month? (Yes. Honda sold a total of 881 Clarity PHEVs for February, up significantly from January’s 594,)

How will the Honda Clarity BEV fare? Will sales rise? (No. Honda sold 104 Clarity BEVs in February, down from January’s 203.)

We’ve removed the VW e-Golf from our recaps due to weak sales. Sales dropped again in January. Will this month sing a familiar tune? (Yes. Sales were up to 198 compared to last month’s 178. However, down considerably from last year’s 293.)

Also of note: Toyota sold 166 Mirai in February. Honda sold 243 Clarity FCVs.

Last update: March 14, 2018, at 12:35 AM

*Regarding “year of monthly sales” improvements: We know someone is going to look at the chart and say, “hey, only ~11,467 sales were made in May of 2016, when 11,540 were logged in 2015! What gives InsideEVs?” What gives is – through an odd scheduling quirk, only 24 selling days were reported in May 2016 (versus 26 in 2015)

Below Chart: An individual run-down of each vehicle’s monthly result and some analysis behind the numbers. (Previous year’s monthly results can be found on our fixed Scorecard page here)

Individual Plug-In Model Sales Recap For Major Models:

(Limited to vehicles with ~500 sales/or potential for 500 sales in a given month)

Next Generation, 2017 Chevrolet Volt

Chevrolet Volt:

The Chevrolet Volt entering January found itself continuing an unfortunate streak of nine consecutive months of year-over-year losses. 2017 fourth-quarter sales alone were down some 3,000 units from the previous year.

January sales made it ten months of losses in a row, as 713 were sold, some 55.7% lower than a year ago (1,611). For February, the Volt continues its downturn with a total of 983 sold, which is 46% lower than last year’s impressive 1,820. However, it’s up significantly from this January’s numbers.

It has become more than obvious that the Volt’s stablemate, the Chevy Bolt EV, is stealing the Volt’s thunder. For as many months as the Volt has been down and dropping, the Bolt has been up and gaining. Keep in mind, this is definitely not a bad thing, it’s just different … and, in all honesty … better. It means less gas burned!

Additionally, the Toyota Prius Prime is a substantial and successful contender, the Honda Clarity PHEV has arrived and is selling well, and last month, the Kia Niro PHEV and Hyundai IONIQ PHEV join the club.

Chevrolet Bolt EV – looking to make its mark for yet another year

Chevrolet Bolt EV:

The Chevrolet Bolt EV made its debut in December of 2016, as a 2017 model. However, it wasn’t technically available nationwide until August of 2017, but only a handful of copies landed in those 30-odd new states during that month.

That began to change in September. More evenly spread inventory led to rapid Bolt EV sales growth, notching 2,632 sales during that month.

October brought 2,781 deliveries, but November took that number even higher, as 2,987 sales were made. For December, GM eclipsed the 3K threshold by moving 3,227 Chevrolet Bolts, finishing 2017 with a 10-month streak of sales gains.

Unfortunately, in January only 1,177 Bolts were delivered, which a mere 1.3% gain over last January’s 1,162.

The Nissan LEAF entered February as the oldest offering on the U.S. market – going on 87 months now.

As you all know by now, it has been replaced by the updated 2018 Nissan LEAF, which debuted in September (full details here).

Is the new LEAF better?

Yes, in every way, including ~43 more miles range (up to 150 miles from 107) for $700 less. Not enough? A ~225 mile, higher performance trim level arrives later in 2018 (as a 2019 MY car).

Sadly, Nissan USA proved not as capable as Nissan Japan, which managed to launch the new LEAF as planned in October (to some very impressive results), while the U.S. (and Europe) had to wait until January. This wouldn’t be a problem if the wind-down of the first-gen 2017 model wasn’t pre-planned to be defunct by October.

The resulting gap between the ‘new’ and ‘old’ left Nissan with almost no remaining inventory, which caused sales in October to drop to just 213 deliveries, ending an impressive eight-month run of four-digit results. In November, that number dropped further, to 175 sales. December, the best-selling month for EVs, saw only 102 LEAFs delivered. We’re pretty sure Nissan is wishing it had done things differently, as the LEAF closed out 2017 down some 20% overall.

Fast forward to today, when the LEAF was supposed to have been rolling off of lots two months ago, and that’s not quite how it worked out. Cars didn’t begin arriving until January in small numbers and they were pegged for reservation holders. Nissan told us it would be mid-February before another shipment of LEAFs became available at dealers for new buyers, which we figured would result in a sales bump, albeit small. Hopefully, by March, we’ll be able to report healthy sales figures for the all-new LEAF.

In January, Nissan delivered 150 LEAFs, down 80.6% from last January’s 772.

For February, sales increased to 895, which is hugely promising, only down ~14% from last year’s numbers. As a point of reference, last February, Nissan delivered over 1,000 LEAFs.

After setting a new high of 1,908 in May, it was expected that with deeper inventory the Prime would be headed much higher.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and a ‘doubling’ of stock (to around 2,000 units), only resulted in 1,899 sales in September. An additional 50% gain in inventory for October (up to ~3,000) actually resulted in a lower number – 1,626 sales.

For November, inventory levels stayed fairly strong, averaging slightly more than October, which translated into better sales, but still a relatively disappointing 1,834 deliveries, given the higher expectations for the year’s end.

For December, the Prime saw a record sales month, with 2,420 sold. This put the 2017 total at 20,936, landing Toyota’s plug-in the fourth place spot overall for the year as a whole.

Toyota delivered 1,496 Primes for the month of January, up 5.1% from last January’s figures.

February Toyota Prius Prime numbers are super-impressive, with 2,050 sold. This is up a whopping 50.5% from last year’s monthly figures!

The Toyota Prius Prime not only features its own unique look, but 25 miles of all-electric range.

How has the Toyota found a selling range of ~2,000 units a month? The plug-in Toyota is priced right – from $27,950, which after the $4,500 federal credit gives the Prime a selling price of $23,450. This price-point comes in at over $1,000 cheaper than the base hybrid Prius, which should translate into long-term sales success if the EV can remain well stocked.

BMW i3

BMW i3:

The BMW i3 entered the U.S. market with a bang in 2014, but it’s too bad that the initial fireworks display of sales back then was the peak – we just didn’t know it at the time.

For 2017, BMW i3 sales were a mixed bag.

Sales got off to a rough start, with just 182 moved in January, and 318 in February. The tune changed drastically in March (which given the i3’s track record is not all that surprising) with 703 sales made, a 118% gain over March of 2016. However, for several months after March, sales hovered around 500-600 units, until October when almost 700 were yet again moved.

For November…trashbags, as the company recalled all of its i3 vehicles due to a safety issue (for people who chose to NOT wear their seat belts if you can believe that) and put a ‘stop sale’ on the model for a time. Just 283 i3 vehicles were sold during a month that is historically one of the best in terms of EV sales.

Quite frankly (and notwithstanding this recall), the i3 as it stands today is likely too expensive for plug-in vehicle buyers. So, if BMW wants to sell the EV in volumes like it did in the past, it’s going to have to sharpen its pencil considerably.

In late August, BMW proved it still really didn’t understand the issue behind lackluster sales or the i3 itself, by releasing a new, slightly sportier trim level – the i3s (full details here). The car gets some new styling details, some wider tires and some extra performance (+10 kW), but what the public really wants is a longer range option and a price cut (the new i3s is ~10% more expensive in most markets).

To come to an estimated monthly number, we don’t simply take the quarterly estimate given by Tesla and divide it by 3and hope it all works out. This is surely not how it works in the real world. We simply report from the data we accumulate ourselves, including first-hand accounts available from the factory and from the community itself, and the number is what it is (see below).

Revisions/disclaimer to the accuracy of prior estimates: The 2016 Model S chart has been adjusted (via U.S. Q3 data leaked directly from Tesla) by 469 units in Q3, and 525 units in Q4. The 2015 chart was adjusted (one time) by 498 units to compensate for confirmed full-year numbers. The 2014 sales chart was adjusted (one time – again after the end of the full year of estimates) 611 units to compensate for full-year numbers. While past success is no guarantee of future results, InsideEVs is quite proud of its sales tracking for the Model S over the years.

That being said, we only estimate this number because Tesla does not report it, and to not put a number on Model S sales would be to paint an even more inaccurate overall picture of EV sales. Despite our fairly accurate track record, we’re not analysts or portfolio managers and we don’t own any positions in TSLA the company.

While Tesla continues to conform to a familiar quarterly pattern of prioritizing international production early in the quarter before transitioning to domestic output, there has been somewhat of a change/reshuffling of priorities we have seen this time around.

The name of that priority is Model 3.

As we mentioned in 2017, it appeared Tesla knew fairly early that volume production would not be close to guidance by the end of Q3, and quickly refocused in an attempt to make that a reality by the end of Q4 (investors need to be kept happy we suppose).

The end result is that production energies and skilled labor normally assigned to Tesla’s original EVs are being diverted from the Model S and X to getting the Model 3 back on course. Tesla seems to be more focused on net sales than setting a specific S and X target, but international deliveries also play a role. All-in-all, we may see Model S and X sales flat or even lower over the course of 2018.

Additionally, the automaker just pushed back Model S and X delivery timelines by several months. It was said that this is due to a spike in orders for the vehicles, likely due to the attention Tesla is getting from the Model 3, and also because many people are having to wait so long for their Model 3 that they’ve opted for an S or X instead.

With all of this considered, it’s becoming increasingly clear Tesla is picking and choosing how it will skillfully hit its delivery targets. This means that sales figures for the Model S for December and January were down from last year’s numbers.

February’s estimate comes in a bit higher than January, at 1,125, although this is still a notable drop from last year’s 1,750.

Tesla Model X

Tesla Model X:

Like the Model S, Tesla does not report Model X sales, so we do our best to estimate monthly results for North America using all the data at our disposal (For more info on that, check out our disclaimer for the Model S)

Historical accuracy/Sales Update (Oct 11th):

Tesla’s leaked U.S. sales data for Q3 2016 put U.S. deliveries at 5,428. Our own Q3 estimate was 5,800 for North America, which includes Canada (which ended Q3 with 389 registrations for the quarter), meaning 5,787 were actually sold. Though we don’t attest to being experts, we were only off by 13 units in Q3.

Previously in Q2 2016, Tesla reported 4,625 Model X deliveries. Our estimated scorecard got within about ~55 units of the actual number (accounting for just a handful of international Model X deliveries). In Q1 we were within ~200 units.

Since we don’t want to bore you by explaining the same thing twice, have a look at the Tesla Model S recap (above) and then come back here.

All done? Good … welcome back.

Like the Model S, Model X production has been sacrificed as Tesla attempts to prove itself more capable of building the Model 3. Tesla directed to some 10% less production of the Model S & X in Q4 of 2017. Keep in mind, however, that all cars and regions are not created equal.

Aside from lower sales volume due to the Model 3, for the months of December and January, Model X sales seemed to be business as usual (despite the long-winded explanation above). In December, we estimated that Tesla moved 3,330 electric SUVs compared to the 3,875 sold in the same month of 2016. We estimated January 2018 Model X sales at 700, down a touch from last year’s 750.

Our estimates for February put Model X deliveries at 875, up a fair amount from January’s estimates, as well as February 2017 numbers (of course, last February, Model X production was somewhat limited, and our estimates show the automaker delivered 800 during that month).

This is the first Tesla Model 3 (#001), naturally, it arrived in black – lord of all colors. Want to buy it any other way? $1,000 premium fine for bad taste.

Tesla Model 3:

Just ~16 months after orders opened, and ~10 years since it was first announced (then known as the “Bluestar”), the first Model 3s were delivered on July 28, 2017! One can check out the full delivery ceremony and all the newly released specs (220-310 miles range, 0-60 mph in 5.1-5.6 seconds) on our full recap here.

As with Model S & X sales, Tesla is not planning to release monthly Model 3 sales in the U.S. at this point in time. Until then, we’ll do our best to estimate monthly results for North America using all the data at our disposal (For more info on that, check out our Model S disclaimer).

Thankfully, in the early days (Q3 2017), estimating Model 3 sales in the U.S. was a pretty easy task, as the complete delivery volume for July took place live at the July 28th delivery event in Fremont, California. The first 30 cars were delivered to Tesla employees/stakeholders in the U.S., and one could almost count the individual cars as they left Tesla’s Fremont factory in August.

For September, we had Tesla’s quarterly disclosure that put deliveries at 222 cumulatively for the quarter, meaning about 117 were delivered. Truthfully, the monthly numbers were meaningless in Q3. Instead, all eyes were on production. While the company guided to some 1,630+ to be produced, just 260 were built.

Of course, much chatter arose as to why. Tesla generically blamed “production bottlenecks.” The company, looking to re-assure, said at the time:

“We understand what needs to be fixed and we are confident of addressing the manufacturing bottleneck issues in the near-term.”

From our perspective, Tesla realized fairly early in July that the September goals would not be met. Following the future ‘S-Curve’ goal into year’s end was going to be problematic. It appears from that moment on, rather than working on “near-term” production and deliveries, Tesla has been working more proactively with the main goal of simply being able to show volume production by year’s end – something originally targeted for the end of September.

While this thought process was never officially confirmed by the company, a quasi-confirmation came with the admission that Model S and X production would be off 10% in Q4 2017. Additionally, we are now seeing the effects of manpower being transferred into transitioning the Model 3 production from “burst” output (or start and stop if you will) to a more consistent, ordered structure.

While it’s only speculation on our part (as it has been for several months while watching the happenings around the car), we believed Tesla was desperate to provide confirmation of a “decent” sustained production level for the Model 3 by the close of the year … and we were right.

To that end, progress to a certain degree was definitely made in November, as more cars than ever did actually find employee driveways (and orders also opened to the public mid-month … well at least to the first batch of locals anyway). Though Tesla only delivered an estimated 345 Model 3s in November, this number was a notable jump from prior months.

Tesla publicly reported delivering 1,060 Model 3s in December, for a grand total of 1,772 on for 2017. Additionally, Tesla dialed down the target of 5K a week, to 2.5K now, and set the 5K production level back to June (essentially a six-month delay at this point).

While Model S and X sales were both down a handful for January, based on our estimations, Model 3 sales were up again compared to last month’s numbers (one would sure hope so!) However, they’re not up as high as projected or expected.

For February, we must assume that most of the remainder of the Model 3s manufactured in January made their way into owners’ driveways. Added to this, we gather that some early February production was delivered prior to the 28th of the month. We should also point out that an anonymous source with close ties to Model 3 production made us aware that the line has been down for as much as a week at a time over the course of the last month or so due to timing issues with the robots.

This puts our February Model 3 delivery estimate at 2,485.

Chrysler Pacific Hybrid (plug-in)

Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid:

Editor’s note: FCA does not split out sales data for the plug-in Pacifica, so we try our best to estimate that number from month-to-month until hard/verifiable data is gleaned.

The much-anticipated plug-in extended range passenger van arrived in January of 2017, albeit in stealth, stuttered, and very limited in fashion.

Due to some odd quirks with production timing and plant scheduling, we had an on/off/on/off/quasi-on start for the Pacifica Hybrid as it relates to deliveries. Then there was QC holds, then launch delays.

Finally, the Pacifica Hybrid officially arrived on “Earth Day” April 22, 2017, and customers enjoyed a good three to four weeks of arriving inventory … until the wheels fell off (not literally).

By June 10, 2017, a nationwide recall was announced, and all 1,677 Pacificas sold in the U.S. and Canada had to head back to Chrysler to get a faulty diode replaced that could cause loss of power when in operation. We won’t get into all the details from there (check out our June sales report for more info).

Thankfully, by September, the kinks appeared to have been worked out just in time to see its Windsor, Ontario assembly plant go down for the entire month of October for pre-scheduled updating of the facility to comply with U.S. regulatory/safety tooling on the Grand Caravan.

Nonetheless, customer orders and dealer stock are once again flowing and the 2018 model has arrived. For December, we estimated720 deliveries, up 150 units from November’s estimates. With January being a low-volume month, we put Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid sales estimates at 375.

For February, we estimate Chrysler delivered 450 Pacifica Hybrids.

2017 BMW 330e – Like All Plug-Ins Sold In The U.S., It Wisely Is Offered In Black

BMW 330e:

Arriving on the U.S. market nearly two years ago was the BMW 330e, which is theplug-in hybrid version of the company’s quintessential 3 Series offering.

While the 330e (from $44,695 including DST), physically arrived in March 2016 in a token amount, it took BMW almost a year to stock the plug-in very robustly.

Like almost all iPerformance offerings last November, the BMW 330e reached a near 2017 high during the month, selling 477 copies. December’s total hit 363 sales.

For January, we reported 101 33oe’s sold.

This February, BMW sold 142 330e vehicles.

Given the still relatively limited inventory of the 330e on BMW lots, there is a lot of upward sales potential for the car. However, as it has now been on offer for 22 months in the U.S., maybe BMW really doesn’t care to displace any more petrol 3 Series transactions.

As for the specs, the final EPA ‘real world’ range rating of just 14 all-electric miles (via a 7.6 kWh battery – 5.7 usable) was a disappointment for some hoping for a number closer to 20, but with a 75 mph top speed in “Max eDrive” it’s a capable offering (featuring a 2-liter inline turbo-four), which should satisfy the traditional BMW crowd and see strong sales.

The electric motor delivers 87 horsepower with a maximum of 184 pound-feet of torque. When combined with the petrol engine, the total output jumps to 248 horsepower, with a peak torque of 310 pound-feet. This all allows for a 5.9-second zero-to-60-mph sprint and a top speed of 140 mph.

Audi A3 Sportback e-tron

Audi A3 Sportback e-tron:

After selling ~400 copies a month in Q1 2017 (387, 400, and 414), Audi slipped in Q2 and Q3.

The reason for the failure to stock and sell?

VW Group likes to allocate a certain number of model year plug-in vehicles to the U.S., and if they run out … oh well. This was exactly the case for the Audi over the summer and into the fall of 2017.

How bad did it get?

We could only find 17 examples of the A3 e-tron at dealers nationwide when we did an inventory in October 2017. Leading us to say, “Hey Audi, make with the 2018s already!”

Fortunately, they seem to have heard us, as the first handful did indeed arrive in November, but that was a literal handful.

For December, sales improved significantly, to 270 deliveries, from November’s puny 38. However, this is less than half of the 589 delivered in December of 2016, and down to 2,877 for 2017 as a whole, compared to 2016’s 4,280.

Unfortunately, A3 Sportback e-tron sales dropped in January to 145 total deliveries, down 63% from last January’s 387.

For February, 199 A3 Sportback e-trons were sold. Up a touch from January’s numbers, but only half as many as last year’s 400 sold.

The A3 e-tron has a low price inside Audi’s lineup. $38,900 gets you the Audi badge, 8.8 kWh of battery – good for 17-odd miles of real-world driving … and a federal credit of $4,158, which is significant because this brings the e-tron package down to within $3,500 of the base MSRP of the A3.

Another reason for decent sales numbers on the A3 e-tron; you can’t get the “Sportback” version of the Audi in any other trim level in the U.S.

Ford Fusion Energi

Ford Fusion Energi:

The refreshed 2017 Ford Fusion Energi (details) was a fairly big hit in 2016, showing marked improvements throughout the year.

Heading into 2017, the Fusion Energi crossed back into “four-digit land” in March, as 1,002 Energis were moved … joining a club of just five others at that level. The month of May showed a repeat of such numbers, but sales have stayed in the 700s ever since.

For November, that number was 731. December sales were up a touch, with 875 sold, for 9,632 deliveries in 2017. Fusion Energi sales are down from the last few months, at 640 for January.

Fusion Energi sales climbed in February to 794, very close to last year’s 837.

Looking at the inventory in the past, it was easy to see why (and how) so many of the new Fusion plug-ins have been sold. The Fusion Energi often won the crown for the “most stocked” EV in the U.S., until Chevy got crazy with the Volt and Bolt EV.

With that said, Ford had been struggling to keep production on pace with demand (or rather managing inventory lower). After having almost 3,000 in stock in mid-June 2017, that number fell below 2,000 units by the start of September, as the industry-wide summer shutdown/changeover to MY 2018 was underway. This inventory level flatlined through the end of 2017.

2018 BMW 530e

BMW 530e:

Welcome to the “big time” BMW 5 Series! By “big time” we mean selling more than 500 copies and getting an individual recap on our sales scorecard.

Originally, we had expected that the BMW X5 40e would be dropping off the list near the end of 2017, but the SUV surprised us with strong November and December sales (more on that below), keeping itself on the list for another season.

Back to the 530e.

The plug-in hybrid’s $52,400 starting price point makes it the cheapest of the 5 Series to own, and thus a strong seller. After crossing 500 sales in both September and October, an amazing 872 were moved in November, followed by 706 in December – shooting the plug-in BMW up our sales chart.

For January, deliveries slide down significantly to 224. February brings 413 deliveries.

x5 xDrive40e

BMW X5 xDrive40e:

The BMW X5 plug-in had an unexpectedly strong debut in the U.S. in 2016, which only got stronger over the year.

In fact, the electrified BMW SUV had seen sales as high as 876 units in 2016 (August 2016).

Then 2017 happened, and sales disappointed. During the first 10 months, numbers ranged from the 260s to the 480s.

With just 329 sales in October, and 333 in September, we confidently predicted the X5 plug-in would be leaving our recap list in 2018 … then November happened. The month brought an all-time best 929 deliveries, which made the BMW the sixth best selling plug-in for the November! In December, sales were down, but still strong at 832, pushing the just out of the top ten for the year as a whole.

BMW X5 plug-in sales plummeted in January to 261.

For February, X5 plug-in sales rise to 596.

While inventory is still low, we’re happy to be able to report that the 2018s are now steadily arriving in volume. Hopefully, enough plug-in SUVs will eventually arrive that BMW can once again make a push to achieve the four-digit mark!

LMAO at serial anti-Tesla troll and all around nutcase MadBro letting slip the truth here:

“GM is selling as many Bolts as they want to sell.”

Yep, GM is treating this fine car as a compliance car and once again ABSOLUTELY SQUANDERING their opportunity to lead in the market as both the Model 3 in its slow ramp AND the Prius Prime are easily outselling the Bolt.

They know what the market dynamics for a 35k car are. They aren’t going to “flood” the market and make a loss anymore than Tesla is. The only difference is that Tesla is run by someone who gave the average joes, sparks, get reals, trollnonymouses, etc. that the Camry of the electric world is being sold without Tesla prices. Tesla made as many cars as they could without blowing their balance sheet up.

I feel the same way about BMW.
Remember, in America the Dealer is the Customer.
The American allocation of the i3 is clearly no more than 700 a month max, just like the 330e. They do have to ship them across an Ocean, and if they can sell their excess in Europe…

“GM is selling as many Bolts as they want to sell. Can’t say the same for Tesla and 3’s”
So this is why you are GM’s cheerleader? That’s just sad! This is exactly what many are saying on here, that GM simply doesn’t want evs…i guess you are not really an ev fan, just a GM fan. What is your next car? A Suburban?

Yes, well, the Bolt is yesterdays news, Tesla is the future. The production of the Model 3 will continue to rise while the Bolt will just plod along selling a modest 20k or so a year, just as Musk predicted, since it’s just a compliance car, a good one.

Well first of all they are producing 2500 a month. They got 2485 delivered in 28 days. So even on a 30 day month it would be closer to 2,662 cars and 31 day month would be closer to 2,751 cars.

That said, overall there is a delay between Tesla producing a car and delivering a car. So the cars we see now are the ones that should have been built in January. So even when we get numbers from March, we aren’t going to know if they hit that target until maybe May.(Cause they can hit 2.5k on last week of March)

It was clear all along that they weren’t going to hit it, or probably get anywhere close. End of Q2 is more realistic (3 months behind their claimed schedule). Even that’s not certain, but it’s at least plausible at this point–much more likely than Q1 ever was.

Did your inside source indicate if production was down due to robotic issues at Fremont’s main assembly line or at module production line at the GF?

Just wondering if the “production hell” is isolated to the GF, where Tesla claims the Grohmann cavalry will arrive soon from Germany to save the day with their new production line. Or perhaps the Fremont plant has its own version of hell.

I don’t think Tesla wants to deliver too many 3’s this month or next. February through the end of June, they have just 35,000 US sales left before they hit 200,000 US sales and the tax credit time out starts. So if they hit 200k US sales on June 15th the credit gets cut in half on October 1st of this year. If 200k gets delivered after July 1st, Tesla keeps the full credit until January 1st of 2019.
Why would Tesla ramp up 3 sales in the US before Q2? They will probably be sending more S and X to Canada and Europe, but the 3 could take them over 200k in June all by itself if they don’t make the ramp up slower than we would otherwise like.

Actually, all of their announced upcoming funding rounds will be coming from lease instruments. They are getting outside professional institutional investors to buy their lease debt, allowing Tesla to stay liquid.

These aren’t available for purchase unless you have an SEC license, so they are only for pro’s and institutions.

They are already over-subscribed by more than 20 to 1.

Let that sink in. For every 1 unit they plan on selling, they have 20+ buyers standing in line to buy it. And they are ALL professional investors.

What you fail to understand is that many of these Institutional investors are still holding shares they got at IPO for $17/share. Tesla has done very, very well for them. There is no reason to stop investing in the top selling EV maker in the United States, who is still at the beginning of full ramp-up with even better numbers still on the way.

There’s a pretty large need to quit playing nice with people who are trying to trash Tesla’s good name. Trolls like Bro1999 routinely violate society’s rules for civil discourse in the knowledge that most people will simply pretend not to notice how disruptive and unpleasant their propaganda is. Very few people will fight fire with fire.

If FUDsters were called out routinely by people who don’t like being lied to, if more people pointed out that serial FUDsters are, in fact, liars who routinely lie because they think they’ll get some financial advantage from it, then the FUDsters would realize they are just wasting their time and there would be a lot less of that B.S. going on. And of course, this doesn’t just apply to InsideEVs comments. Russian troll farms are being paid to disrupt political and issue-oriented discussion on social media all over the USA. Every responsible, patriotic American should start fighting fire with fire, and not let our own rules for civil discourse prevent us from calling out the trolls for what they are.

I’m very glad that “Get Real” calls out the trolls and FUDsters here on a regular basis, and I only wish there was cadre of two or three dozen others who did the same. If there was, I suspect most of the trolls would disappear rather quickly. Since their posting is motivated by greed and money rather than opinion or beliefs, most of them will stop once it’s clear to them that they will no longer help their financial position by posting FUD.

Elon stated that the new assembly robots would be installed this month and operational by the end of March. Tesla must keep US monthly sales below 8k/month average to stay below 200k til Q3. Watch for May, June deliveries of Mode 3 to Canada and Europe to keep US sales down.

If we see any Model 3 deliveries at all outside the USA, then we will know that indeed Tesla is intentionally delaying passing the 200,000 domestic sales limit. But so far at least, there’s no sign of that at all.

The number of conspiracy theories from anti-Tesla FUDsters continues to grow. Theories like “Tesla is intentionally delaying Model 3 production because of blah blah blah.”

I think most reasonable people informed on the subject would agree that Tesla needs all the revenue it can get, and that intentionally delaying TM3 production is not something that’s going to happen in the real world.

What I find surprising is that there are so many posts on this subject by people who don’t appear to be part of the Tesla Hater cult, yet have become “useful idiots” spreading FUD created by the Tesla haters.

I don’t think Tesla needs another couple thousand sales per month nearly as much as they need the extra “gas” that an additional 3 months of full credit will give them late this year. They won’t have the newer robotic line installed and up to speed for a month or two, so in point of fact, their ability to produce the 3 in larger numbers for the time being is problematic.
I think that we will see Tesla ramp 3 sales relatively slowly, perhaps 25% per month in March and April and just 10% in May and June. And there will probably be an increase in the amount of S and X exported outside of the US in order to keep the US sales down a bit.
Tesla wants to blow the competition out of the water this year, and having the full credit all the way to the end of the year will help them do that. Even if they don’t throttle 3 production slightly they wouldn’t sell 200k until late May or early June. Even if the 3’s US sales go up to 3300 in March 4,400 in April, Tesla is still on track for a July crossing of the 200k line. Kicking the can down the road costs them little and gains them much.

Tesla is already 2 months into Q1. All they need to do is push more S and X sales out of the US and slow the ramp up of 3 sales in the US for 4 months. Then they can sell as many cars as they want for 6y full months and get the full credit on all of them. If they could build them that fast, they could get all 400,000+ 3 reservation holders the full credit. Obviously they can’t build the 3 in those kind of numbers but you can bet the final quarter of 2018 will see a lot more 3s built than the third quarter.
It is all good.

sigh.
That 400+K reservations was NOT just America. In General, America (and Canada) has done about 50% of Tesla sales, Europe 40%, and the rest are around 10%. Therefore, I would expect somewhat similar on the reservations. Do note that at one point, it appeared to be over 600,000+ reservations, which would mean around 300,000 are American.

Early last month they had “over 500,000” and the company financial docs show that they are holding $858,000,000 in reservation deposits, so it could be a bit over half a million 3 reservations. I was under the impression that 2/3 of the deposits were from buyers here in the US. I wouldn’t bet the farm on that, but I think US reservations for the 3 are closer to 400k than 300k.

I agree, Tesla would not willingly reduce production. It would simply be a bad business decision.

If the goal was to give more people the option of the tax credit, it would be just as useful to ramp up production immediately, then start cranking out SR and AWD Model 3s as quickly as possible. The longer the SR Model 3 is delayed, the more tax rebates are soaked up by the X, S and LR Model 3.

So far there is no indication that European deliveries for the Model 3 will happen this year. Canadian deliveries were pushed up until mid-2018 but only for the first production run. Not the SR model, or AWD model or base LR model (so far).

Canadian sales numbers for the $50k Model 3 without AWD will not be enough to offset production from the US if they get close to their desired production numbers for Q1 and Q2.

S and X production to Europe and Canada has not been moved up either. So pushing S/X deliveries abroad to delay hitting 200k doesn’t seem to be happening.

The only way Tesla could miss hitting 200,000 units in Q2 is if they simply cannot produce enough (or sell enough) of the LR Model 3 by June.

Model 3 production not ramping up to twice adjusted production goals. No new Model S/X deliveries in the US until June. Q2 could potentially be the worst ever financial quarter for Tesla if those German robots aren’t installed flawlessly and without delay.

Then again every quarter seems to be the “worst ever” financial quarter for Tesla, so that wouldn’t be a surprise.

u make way to much of the subsidy. Most M3 ppl that I know, not a 1 of them said that the break made a difference to them for order it. They just want a decent EV that is worth the money, and apparently, that is Tesla.

“I don’t think Tesla wants to deliver too many 3’s this month or next. February through the end of June, they have just 35,000 US sales left before they hit 200,000 US sales and the tax credit time out starts.”

That 200,000 limit applies only to U.S. sales. Tesla could sell all the Model 3’s it possibly can in Canada, Europe, China, and elsewhere, without having any impact on that at all. Tesla might get some U.S. reservation holders upset at them if they were to prioritize non-domestic sales, but many are already upset over the delay in delivery. For Tesla to deliberately avoid making money where it can… well, I think Tesla’s leadership may be overly optimistic, but it’s not stupid!

Push, that is why I clearly stated “US sales”. They will push some of their S and X sales to Canada and Europe, so no loss of revenue, just a change of delivery address.
I guess we will see if I am right in the next 60 days! 😉

It’s not that Tesla doesn’t want to sell the cars, it’s a scam. There is no huge demand yet – that’s the real problem. If someone wants an ALL Electric car now go purchase one. The incentives will never be better – think about it folks, it’s a marketing scam, the consumers aren’t buying, that’s the problem.

No consumer demand for ALL electric cars in the US. ALL Electric cars totaled 105,000 last year in the US. They may work in other countries with mandates and new regulations. Those countries will take a long time to cycle through existing gas burners. So Tesla has plenty of time to get production right.

“Tesla doesn’t give out exact monthly sales (apparently because the public can’t handle the concept of regional allocations and delivery lead times).”

It is because fools like you who post every month, and read the report every month, STILL are too ignorant to understand that Tesla actively manages regional allocations and delivery lead times, so Jan/Feb sales with INTENTIONALLY be low in the US every single year.

Sadly, you insist on proving Tesla right, that folks like you simply can’t think your way out of a paper bag when it comes to the way Tesla delivers cars globally. Even when reminded EVERY SINGLE MONTH!!!!!

“If the Bolt’s sales are pathetic, does that make Model X and S sales ludicrously pathetic?”

No, it means your Tesla bashing FUD is so ludicrously pathetic that you have to lie constantly about the actual facts and figures.

Tesla’s global sales for the Model S and Model X exceed the rather pathetic sales (falling far short of meeting demand) of the Bolt EV by a pretty fat margin, mostly because GM sells so few of them outside the USA. Model X sales alone were 46,535 units in 2017.

GM certainly could sell far more in Canada, S. Korea, and Europe, if it was willing to sell them at a competitive price and was willing to ship them there in large numbers.

But as you yourself said, Bro1999: “GM is selling as many Bolts as they want to sell.” GM simply isn’t interested in selling enough Bolt EVs to meet demand.

The reason Tesla won’t need to ramp up to 5,000 per week Model 3 for the US is consumer demand in the US is not there yet. The #2 selling electric car Prius Prime goes 25 miles on batteries then runs on gas – come on folks, that’s a hybrid. Stop playing with the numbers. That car is a hybrid with 20 other so called electric cars on this list.

2,500 Model 3’s are a little lower than the 2,750 I was hoping for / expecting. But I don’t disagree at all. With this being a short month and with production briefly stopping/slowing to a trickle near the end of the month, 2,500 seems reasonable.

Still a good month for Tesla. 🙂 And unless something shocking happens, still on top of the sales charts and will be for all of 2018.

Model 3 production may be moving slower than we’d all like, but it’s still on the way up!

As of February 1st Ford has sold 98,695 plugin vehicles compared 164,946 sold by Tesla. The Fords look like the Fusion Energi, the C-Max Energi, the Focus Electric and the Transit Connect EV. Also as of February 1st, Ford has sold 8,682 Focus Electrics compared to 3,647 Tesla Model 3s being sold.

With the price differential, Ford should be outselling the much more expensive Tesla’s by a 20 to 1 margin. That is the gap that ICE cars traditionally see between these two price points. The fact that they instead still trail in sales is a shocking embarrassment.

False. There’s no such thing as a “necessary” market. There’s just markets. GM is targeting those that want to drive most days on pure electricity, yet still have the ability to make long trips in hybrid mode. The cost of that car is $33K, which is a very mainstream price, especially considering tax credits and gas savings. The 53 miles of AER allow most driver to never have to use gas on daily driving. Lower range PHEVs are just that. A compromise in order to shave a few dollars off the price. That is a different market. Toyota really dropped the ball with the Prime in a lot of areas, but talking about “necessities”, only 2 seats in the back is a major deal breaker for many families. Know your customers.

Are you being sarcastic, because it’s hard to tell. There are about 400,000 people waiting for the car, and less than 2500 produced a whole month! And it’s been 8 months since the car’s been in “production”! If they stay this slow growth, it really will take 10+ years to fill all reservations.

If any other company did this, people would be screaming “compliance car”. Tesla does “amazing work” indeed.

Might be good time for you to cancel your reservation and convince all your friends to cancel as well. You can always order after they catch up in production.

I thank Benedictus for giving us a breath of fresh air. He’s just about the only one here looking at the whole forest instead of just a couple of trees.

Tesla already has the #1 selling plug-in EV in the USA, and its production is only going to keep going up over time. For EV advocates and enthusiasts, Tesla’s production is a glass that is waaaaaaay more than half full, yet people keep obsessing over the small amount of it that’s empty.

If GM had 400K people waiting, completely sold out, been in production for 8+ months, and made less than 2500 cars in a month after talking about 2500 per week, you’d be all over them saying how they’re only making compliance cars. Yet, Tesla doing it and Benedictus cheering Tesla is “breath of fresh air?” More like breath of sarcastic air.

I like Tesla (obviously!), but their production is managed by bunch of incompetent buffoons. While their long term success is likely, they should be punished short term by canceling your reservation.

Or maybe building a quality BEV for $50k is very difficult. And building more than 1000 of them a month even harder. Tesla may be late, but they are building outstanding cars in numbers that would be celebrated by any other electric car maker. 30% sales growth MoM for the 3 is a recipe for a rapidly growing pie. 😉
Here is hoping they can grow the 3 sales 30% again in March and April!

When Grohmann builds lines for BMW or Audi, they schedule 10-14 days to reinstall the disassembled line. I don’t see any reason why they would need longer for something they built for Tesla. They’ve been doing this for a long, long time.

“I don’t see any reason why they would need longer for something they built for Tesla.”

I hope you’re right, but Tesla’s history of stubbornly doing things differently than other auto makers suggests otherwise, at least to me.

Anyway, I think the assembly line machines in question are for Gigafactory One battery pack assembly. Contrariwise, Steven Loveday in a comment above says the current bottleneck is at the Fremont plant, so I don’t see that the one thing has anything to do with the other.

South East got Prius Prime just recently, sells for about MSRP. You can’t expect much sales there really just as in the mid US. Gas/electricity price ratio provides little incentive to mainstream buyer over regular Prius with no or little state taxpayer handouts. Not enough to compensate for price premium and lack of 5th seat because of extra battery weight. Maybe barely break even assuming buyer can qualify for full federal tax credit, but many would not qualify.

I checked around briefly to see other auto sales for February. It appears the tend continues. Car sales in general down, SUV and pickup sales up. Plugins continue to eat away at sinking hybrid sales. Non-plug Prius sales alone plummeted to 5,020 for February, a 35% drop from 2017. This is not the headline you see in the business press. They really want EVs, and AVs to be the story.

Why? He can’t build enough to satisfy current demand as it is. If they were building a different model, they would still not be able to sell more than they can build. And they sell every one they can build.

What does market trends have to do with how many they can sell, when they are production limited?

Interesting how everyone talks about the dismal sales of the Chevy Volt now that the Bolt is out. Yet… what I see is that the Volt is still #5 in sales. And it is still beating out sales of Tesla Model X. So I wouldn’t say that is a bad place to be on the chart, even if it has moved down a notch or two since last year.

don’t tell me you are also among those who still don’t understand that Tesla actively manages global deliveries, so that US sales happen primarily in every last month of every quarter in the US?

Because you know better. You know that the first two months of every quarter is when Tesla delivers the majority of their cars to non-US markets, so any comparison in US sales can only be done based upon full quarterly numbers.

How can it be that people still can’t understand this? People who read the same disclaimers every single month?

“Interesting how everyone talks about the dismal sales of the Chevy Volt now that the Bolt is out. Yet… what I see is that the Volt is still #5 in sales.”

Let me put that in perspective for you:

The Toyota Corolla sold over 1,100,000 units worldwide last year. The Volt sold a bit over 30,000 units in its best year, 2012. (And the Leaf once sold more than 60,000 in a year.)

My point is that #5 on that chart isn’t much when compared to the best-selling gasmobiles. It’s at best “grading on the curve”.

I certainly hope that Tesla can indeed ramp up production and sales of the Model 3 to 400,000 per year or more. But let’s not pretend that’s going to be the “tipping point” for the EV revolution if and when that happens. The tipping point will come when several auto makers — not just Tesla — each have several high volume plug-in EVs in production. And by “high volume” I don’t mean a pathetic 30,000 units per year in global sales. I mean 100,000 or more.

Everyone seems so all into predictions, well here is a prediction for you:
Tesla will not shut down production this Summer, for 3 weeks, to “Retool” their factory, though the same cannot be said of other manufacturers.

You have never been a high-level employee working with a fixed monthly pay. Most of them have to work overtime with no extra pay, and I bet most of the Tesla engineers and management are doing so, working 80 and more hours a week under Musk’s whip, or else face getting demoted or fired.

I guess you’ve never worked where you were compensated with stock grants and/or stock options, and your contribution as a key contributor had a direct influence on the company’s success. So every hour of your time you build the value of your stock compensation.

I think, you are way to optimistic. There shutdowns of the lines in february, means they will get between 1500 and 2000 deliveries in march 2018. (most of the cars that are now produced, will probably not make it to the customer, before the end of the month.) Talk to your guys in fremont.

You are the biggest troll here. There are more GM fans than all of the Tesla fans put together. GM will survive with lesser EVs sales because it is a 110 old auto company, and I bet EVERYONE here has driven or taken rides in one or more GM vehicles.

Why the big difference in number between the Insider EV and Bloomberg Model 3 tracker. One could look at the difference between how many Tesla’s are sold on the last month of each quarter and see for whatever reason many more are sold.

The difference is that IEVs uses a time-tested method that has been confirmed through various cross-checks and comparisons with actual deliveries as-reported each quarter for several years. The average error is usually just a couple of %.

Bloomberg is just now beginning the painful process of vetting their extrapolations with reality. We’ll know in a few months which system is closer to the truth.

The difference is that InsideEVs staff have spent a lot of time and effort developing and maintaining many different sources for info on Tesla’s production and sales/deliveries.

And Bloomberg most likely has not.

As I recall, the most InsideEVs has ever had to adjust its sales estimate for a Tesla model was ~200 units. Bloomberg? I seriously doubt their estimates are anywhere near that accurate. Probably not even remotely.

What is Tesla’s international S and X deliveries to-date in 2018?. The Fremont plant now has two production lines and over 10,000 workers.

Fremont only produced 3,375 units for the US market in January and 4,485 units in February. That is less-than-25% of the nominal production capacity. Unless Model S and X production and deliveries for export markets have been astronomically-high, the Fremont plant production rate to-date as been abysmal compared to the rest of the industry.

Oh, they see it all right. What has them so upset is that they keep predicting Tesla’s downfall, and they keep inventing dark conspiracy theories claiming that Tesla is faking its financial statements, is about to collapse, and can’t possibly increase production.

They are very, very upset that the TM3 ramp up so very clearly and positively refutes all their lies and conspiracy theories. Of course, they’ll never admit it! They won’t admit either that reality or that they are upset by that reality.

Ah, schadenfreude! Such a guilty pleasure watching the Tesla Hater cultists twist in the wind, hoist by their own petards.
😆 😆 😆

My expectation was 2,500 and actual fell by a small %. Still a 30% increase is good and at this rate, it should cross 10,000 mark in few months and no plugin can beat Model-3 at least in US market. Last month Tesla sold 5000 + units worldwide to take #4 spot and its great.

“GM is selling as many Bolts as they want to sell. Can’t say the same for Tesla and 3’s.”

WOW! Your ability to put a positive spin on GM’s lack of interest in selling the Bolt EV is one of the most awesome cases of putting lipstick on a pig I’ve ever seen.

Do you work in advertising?

It’s an ongoing tragedy that Tesla isn’t able to ramp up TM3 production as fast as it wants or needs to. But at least Tesla is trying to make and sell compelling PEVs in large numbers. GM certainly is not!

For the sake of transparency, and in order to get a better idea about the quality of these estimates, it would be really nice to see insideevs’ past estimates of Tesla sales compared to the actual numbers.
Right now, if I understand correctly, monthly estimates are shifted at the end of the quarter to fit the actual sales numbers.
So my question is: how much of a correction was necessary in order to reconcile the two numbers? Single-digit percents? More? Less?

Been trying all day. Automakers refuse to divulge the EV/hybrid sales numbers. Partly in an attempt to not show how few they’ve sold, but also in an effort to add those numbers to the non-hybrid models to show better sales. We are still working on some workaround. Otherwise, like FCA and Tesla, we will have to estimate. Fortunately, we have total electric numbers from most of those automakers, just not splits for models.

Nope. Been trying all day. Automakers refuse to divulge the EV/hybrid sales numbers. Partly in an attempt to not show how few they’ve sold, but also in an effort to add those numbers to the non-hybrid models to show better sales. We are still working on some workaround. Otherwise, like FCA and Tesla, we will have to estimate. Fortunately, we have total electric numbers from most of those automakers, just not splits for models.

It started in January, as a new policy among European automakers for 2018, however, we were still able to secure numbers through other recent contacts, apparently as a one-time situation. We are confident we will secure another way. It’s what we do!

These automakers have actually never provided split numbers in their public reports. However, some of them give an overall number of plug-ins sold. In the past, we’ve been able to contact a rep and get the “model split” specifics. It’s mainly because the same vehicles are offered in an ICE version, and the PHEV/EV is just considered one of many trims. So, of course, automakers don’t release sales numbers split down to trims. This is why BMW reports the i3 and i8, and Merc reports the B250e, since these are “standalone” EVs. Now, however, the reps (primarily from the Euro automakers) are saying that they’ve not been provided with the splits for 2018 and will not have them going forward. I hope that all makes sense! Thanks!

Thank you, Wade! I just couldn’t sit and wait anymore and not post a full chart, albeit likely inaccurate to whatever degree. But, we know the BMW and Merc overall numbers are right. If anything, Volvo and Hyundai/Kia numbers are likely and hopefully lower than actual, which could mean an even better month!

All I can say is I told you so.. you can extrapolate a couple days production and call it a weeks production. Just cause you can make 200 cars in a day doesn’t mean you can make 1000 in a week. You make 1000 in a week when you make 1000 in a week

Of the 16,489 plugins sold, 8,364 were BEVs which gives it a 51% share. Without split of BMW i3 REX, all are clubbed under BEV. BEVs beating PHVs in a non-quarter end month is a surprise. Thanks to ramp up of Model-3.

In a market where overall sales declined 1.9%, the plugins increased by 37% YoY which is excellent.
And what is even great is that Tesla with its 3 EVs has 27% share in market where 12 automakers are selling nearly 50 plugins. Tesla vehicles also has #1, #4, #8 slots.

So European automakers won’t reveal the plugin sales.
They can specify their plugin sales in each European country, but not in USA.
Why? They lost big time to Tesla.
Never mind, just don’t report their sales if its difficult to get the figures. Let the Americans think that the European plugins don’t sell at all.

Remember BMW’s TV ad for 3 Series Plugin saying ‘No need to wait forever’ in reference to Tesla Model-3.
Model-3 has arrived and even though its not in full production, it could still sell near 2,500 units and take #1 position in the dashboard.

Sales of Prius-H is only 3,889 and that of Prius-P is 2,050 units. So between the 2, The plugin version holds 1/3 share. Whether the dealers are pushing the plugin is not clear because it sells only in the 2,000 range.
In Japan Nissan Note ePower (Hybrid) has outsold Prius for many months. If that model is launched in USA, it can outsell Prius.

And the Prius V has 415 units and Prius C has 716 units. Both these are different vehicles with size and shape being different. Prius V is discontinued with only the inventory being sold.

811 batteries are cheaper with more range and ramp up this month. Hyundai group will build batteries for power grids first, then cars. Would you scale up production when you can build the same car cheaper with more range from this month onwards? If I were Musk and Barra I would build compliance cars until I could build with 811 batteries, and then ramp like hell.

So for the extra $2,750, you get a plugin which has an extra 7.3 KWh battery and a 29 mile range. At $200 / KWh, the extra 7.3 KWh battery costs $1,460 and for the plugin, charging, bigger motor, it costs another $1,300.

So why not the other automakers price their plugin at this level of premium.
In fact, a diesel vehicles costs $5,000 more than the gasoline vehicle. For the same $5,000 it should be possible to make a plugin with at least 20 mile range.
And the plugins not only offer near 50 MPG, but also some distance on electricity which is much cheaper.